Words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same are called homonyms. My recently published Self-Editing titles (for the Successful Student, the Modern Author, and Content Writers) contain a comprehensive list of hundreds of homonyms. Some homonyms, like gorilla and guerrilla, are so far apart in meaning that they are not often misused. Others, like peak/peek/pique or counsel/council, can be confusing. The problem is that the spell-check function of your computer will generally not catch an error that involves using a real word, but not the right word, so you have to know the difference.
I saw these two sentences on two websites last night, so I decided it’s time for a refresher.
When using these ads to compliment an inbound marketing campaign, you will drive more customers back to your website, offer or product.
All you need to do when you’re almost ready to publish those blog posts or online articles is find relevant and complimentary content.
Both of these sentences misspelled complement.
To compliment someone is to say something nice about that person: “Wow, you really know your punctuation and grammar!”
When something is offered at no charge, it’s complimentary: The crowd was enthusiastic about the complimentary sushi.
However, when you are talking about something that is compatible, that “goes” with something else, you spell it complement. Complement with an “e” also means the completeness of a workforce: The inbound marketing firm had trouble finding a full complement of competent content creators.
The way I remember the distinction is to think of the “i” spelling and say “‘I‘ compliment you.” Once I made that beachhead in my memory, the other word and its meaning was easier. If that works for you, great. If not, figure out what does.
Need help with content editing? Please give EditNATION.com owner Liz Coursen a call at 941-706-2463.
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